The present invention relates to family games, or family board games, of the kind which include a checkered playing area comprising squares marked in alternate colours, e.g. black and white or otherwise marked alternately, such as a checkerboard, chessboard, for instance, or some other contrasting colour combination, and a set of game-pieces for each player.
As the reader may well be aware, chess is an ancient game which can be played by solely two players at one and the same time and which, in order to be truly interesting and stimulating, both to the players and to those watching the game, requires the players to have roughly the same degree of skill. Consequently, chess is not a family game in the true sense and therein lies a weakness in the game of chess which many have tried to overcome, by modifying the game in various ways, so that more than two players can take part at one and the same time.
For instance, the U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,237 describes and illustrates one such modified chess game which allows two, three or four players to play simultaneously and which includes conventional chess pieces, one set for each player. The pieces are set out in their intended places on a checkered board which includes 100 squares and which is thus somewhat larger than a conventional chessboard. The board is divided into four areas of mutually equal size, each consisting of five.times.five squares. The known variant uses conventional pieces, all of which have the same movement pattern as the pieces of a conventional chess set, with the exception of the pawns, which can be moved forwards, backwards or sideways one square at a time. Because this modified chess game is based on the use of conventional chess pieces, the endeavour to provide a game in which a learner can take part without needing to feel inferior to more experienced players, and to provide a true family game in which all can play without needing any real experience in the game concerned, has not been truly successful. Another drawback with this modified chess game is that it is restricted to a maximum of four players, and this limitation also applies to the majority of board games which have derived from chess.